Sunset Blvd (Nicole’s Version) (St James Theatre, Broadway) ★★★★★

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Book and Lyrics by Don Black & Christopher Hampton.

Every now and again I get a total theatrical obsession. Like the musical Spring Awakening that I saw 9 times in London and on Broadway after pouring over the recording for years. Or the epic two-part play The Inheritance that I’ve now seen 7 full times across three continents and four cities (the new Sydney production will be the 8th). And now, you can add the new production of Sunset Boulevard to the list. After seeing it on Broadway I jumped straight online as I walked out of the theatre and booked to see it again before I left New York, and I’d happily see it more times. I’ve been listening to the live recording ever since.

I’ve made no secrets about how much I love Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard. It was one of the first musicals I owned (as a chunky 2-CD set). I wouldn’t actually get to see it staged till a few years ago when Glenn Close reprised the role in London. Then this year we had Sarah Brightman and Silvie Paladino give us a new production at the Sydney Opera House that I really enjoyed (and happily watched twice to catch both leading ladies). But there was always a shadow hanging over the local production. Friends and critics in London were falling over themselves about the new, Brechtian version of the show, directed by rockstar director Jamie Lloyd and starring popstar-turned-stage-star Nicole Scherzinger. 

Friends were throwing down their cash to see it multiple times and the press were fawning. Scherzinger has been earning her stripes as a stage performer for a few years and has always been an excellent vocalist. Jamie Lloyd meanwhile had made a name for himself as a director who could turn classic plays into blockbusters – a knack for canny celebrity casting, combined with a challenging text and, as would become more pronounced over the years, relatively bare staging. Jamie Lloyd productions have a laser focus on the performer and the script. Actors love working with him. Audiences lap it up. The Jamie Lloyd Company is a brand, and knows how to wield its power to get shows off the ground. 

After a run of missteps like Love Never Dies, Stephen Ward and Bad Cinderella it seems clear Andrew Lloyd Webber was leaning into his back catalogue. He’d been working on a revised version of the roller-skating Starlight Express for years (it’s now opened in London). Jesus Christ Superstar had been given a fresh makeover at London’s Regent’s Park OpenAir theatre (that version would tour the world and is about to arrive in Sydney) with Belgian director Ivo Van Hove working on another new version. And things got kookier with the camp retelling of Cats as The Jellicle Ball. After trying too hard to be cool with Bad Cinderella, Lloyd Webber has suddenly become popular again. It’s like watching Tommy Hilfiger hang out with rappers in the 90s. It’s odd but it works.

So here we are, after knocking them dead in London, Sunset Boulevard is back on Broadway and is the talk of the town (even Rachel Zegler, starring in Romeo + Juliet up the road, dressed as Nicole’s Norma Desmond for Halloween). By removing pesky things like a set, costume changes and comedy numbers, Jamie Lloyd has sharpened the book, tweaked the lyrics and made a self-referentially camp masterpiece. This is Sunset Blvd, now with added cocaine.

And it’s one of the best theatrical experiences I’ve had in years. The closest comparison I have is the first time I saw Kip Williams’ The Picture of Dorian Gray (it’ll be interesting when both shows are on Broadway at the same time in 2025). Nicole Scherzinger’s line readings are so precise, so carefully delivered, she wrings every bit of emotion out of the tunes. You realise just how much her talent was being wasted singing pop music all those years. The bare staging gives the performance leeway to go bigger and it balances out. If you plonked Scherzinger’s performance into the recent Opera House production it would all be too, too much, but against a bare stage, wearing a simple black slip dress, her acting sits perfectly. 

Lloyd has also made some smart decisions with the text. They reportedly rewrote a third of the lyrics, but the changes didn’t feel that major. Removing the two comedy numbers lets the humour come from the performances and keeps the tone consistent. The wafer thin romance between Betty and Joe sits better now that everything else has been stripped back. The somewhat embarrassing “car chase” sequence that leads Joe to Norma’s palazzo has been replaced by cinema-style opening credits (over the course of the show Jamie Lloyd manages to get his name on screen at least three times which threatens to go beyond branding and straight into narcissism). At times it feels like you’re watching a contemporary dance piece rather than a Broadway musical – the cast, dressed in sportswear, moving in sharp lines on the dark stage. 

Of course there are two moments everyone is talking about. The opening of Act II sees Tom Francis as Joe Gillis perform the song “Sunset Boulevard” as a single-shot walk-and-talk. With a camera-man in tow he walks from his dressing room, through the backstage areas, past other dressing rooms (filled with visual jokes for the fans), down to the theatre’s foyer, out onto the street and back again. By the time Francis walks straight onto the stage in time to end the tune, the audience is screaming with applause. 

Then there is the blood soaked finale that’s been flooding social media feeds and became a Halloween sensation. It instantly told the world that this production was visceral and violent. In a show that is primarily black and white, the big washes of red burn into your eyes. As much as I jokingly criticised the local production for concocting a reason for Tim Draxl to get his much Instagrammed six-pack out, here we get Tom Francis drenched in blood, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts and it fits the narrative style completely.

It’s just brilliant theatre. Jamie Lloyd has attacked the text as if it were a contemporary staging of Shakespeare, removing anything that would distract from the music and lyrics, but runs the risk of removing too much context. Judging by the chatter around me in the theatre, there were definitely some confused voices (I heard quite a few people “theatre-splaining” to their friends during the interval).

The other question is, is this all just a star vehicle powered by Nicole Scherzinger’s fanbase? Well I don’t think Scherzinger is the kind of performer with an avid following large enough to hit the numbers this show is hitting. And the fact that both the London and Broadway productions have a regular alternate Norma on select performances in addition to an understudy (much like the Australian production did) means audiences will definitely see another actress do the role. As much as this is a career-making role for her, it’s not all about Nicole. Could this production travel, with a different lead actress (say, to Sydney maybe)? Yes, but good luck casting it.

Jamie Lloyd’s Sunset Boulevard won’t be to everyone’s taste. I know people who were either indifferent or loudly disgusted by it, but for me it sits right in my sweet spot – big musical theatre numbers, defiantly theatrical staging, bold directorial vision. God I hope they film the whole thing.